Jury Convicts Man Of Murder, Recommends Life Sentence

NEWPORT NEWS — A jury did not buy Walter Short's claim that he was not involved in the shootings that killed one man and injured another in September 1994.

The Circuit Court jury convicted Short of first-degree murder Thursday and recommended he serve the maximum punishment - life in prison. The jurors also tacked on a $100,000 fine.

Short, 20, was also convicted of illegal use of a firearm in the Sept. 11, 1994, slaying of Gary ``290'' Ransome, and malicious shooting and illegal use of a firearm for shooting Ransome's roommate, Pernell C. Harrell, 48. The jury recommended the maximum punishment for those three crimes - a total of 26 years in prison - plus another $100,000 fine.

Short, who had pleaded innocent, will be sentenced Feb. 26. He claimed he was at home with his girlfriend the night Ransome, 27, was killed and Harrell was shot by two men who forced their way into Harrell's house on Poplar Avenue and tried to steal drugs.

``I thought the jurors were sending a statement,'' said Newport News Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Bryant Sugg. ``I had asked them to sentence Short to the maximum because I thought he deserved that.''

In March, Short's codefendant, Rondrick Bowser, 20, was convicted of the same charges and sentenced to 33 years in prison.

Sugg said he is glad the case is over. ``This has been going on since 1994 and this is 1996,'' Sugg said. ``I've been living with this case for almost two years and it turned out pretty good.''

At Short's trial, which lasted two days, Bowser testified that he and a man named ``Walt'' from Norfolk committed the murders, not he and Short.

But a key prosecution witness, Marlon Wilkinson, told the jury that Short admitted to him in the Newport News jail last January that he shot both Ransome and Harrell. Harrell also testified that the man who shot him was Short.

``Bowser's story and Walter's story were ridiculous, but the facts Wilkinson and Harrell gave were exactly the same,'' Sugg said. ``Wilkinson knew information that no one knew except the people who planned the murder or were there.

``That stuff wasn't in the newspaper nor on the police report, so where did he get it?'' Sugg said. ``Evidently, he got it from the defendant,'' he said, referring to Short.

Wilkinson, who is serving 33 years in prison for second-degree murder, testified Thursday that Short told him he had committed the murder and why he did it. The revelation came, Wilkinson said, one day when he, Short and another man were together in the same cell block.

Wilkinson testified that Short told him Bowser came to Short with the idea of robbing and killing Ransome after he learned Ransome had a lot of money. Wilkinson said Short told him that they then went to the house and shot Ransome and Harrell.